MOUNTAIN
SILENCE

Issue 30;

Article

A Residential Centre in Glastonbury - Putting Down Roots

By Bev Eatwell

Ever since visiting Hope House in Hebden Bridge I knew that I wanted to duplicate something like it in the south, and here it (possibly) is. My partner Gez and I are in the process of buying a 5 bed detached house on the outskirts of Glastonbury. We are planning on converting the large garage on the bottom floor into a zendo with its own separate entrance. This will then be a space that can be used by local zen/yoga/meditation groups, and also will be available cheaply and easily for DM retreats.

The zendo will probably be able to sit around 15 when finished, and the house can sleep up to 8, with space in the garden for tents. There are lots of lovely airbnb options in the local area, so if more people than that wanted to come, they could sleep there and we could split the costs between us. In that way I'm hoping we could offer retreats that are only £10-15 per person a night, including food. We could even store any DM zafus, bells etc so that it is a practice space that is ready to go with minimum effort.

I'm really hoping that having somewhere permanent and relatively cheap will help us come and sit together as a sangha more often, and hopefully by offering a selection of weekend retreats across the year, there will be times when most people can make it down. Once we have bought the property, it would be really helpful if people could give some input as to what shape they would like this project to take. The ideal situation would be to be able to invite a visiting teacher to live in the room adjacent to the zendo, and for them to be able to give talks and run sesshins from here.

Thanks to everyone for their positivity and support so far and fingers crossed it all works out!